Catawiki
Branding, Design system, TVC
Client
Catawiki
Role
Brand Design Manager
Project
Rebranding
Objective
Catawiki, a worldwide marketplace for special objects, sought to create a brand campaign that reflected the unique stories and objects available on their auction platform. They also aimed to develop a digital-first identity and redesign their digital touchpoints to enhance the user experience.
Special objects, selected by experts
Catawiki has grown into a worldwide marketplace for special objects. But it’s more than just a place of a transaction; at Catawiki, knowledge & passion meet. Besides a new identity and redesign of their online platform, we made a brand campaign for them that reflects what unique stories and objects there are to discover on their auction platform.
A digital brand at its core
With so much of the experience happening on the digital platform it was key to develop a brand that doesn’t just live in ads. A digital-first identity was developed in parallel with a complete redesign of the digital touchpoints. We’ve put Catawiki experts front and center, positioning them as the guardian of their specific categories. User insights and one-to-one user testing throughout the entire process and the close cooperation of the Catawiki and dentsuACHTUNG! teams resulted in a user-friendly and inspiring environment.
Strategy
To achieve this objective, Catawiki developed a digital-first identity that centered on Catawiki experts and their specific categories, positioning them as guardians of their respective areas. The design system used color-specific object categories, and the window was the most iconic part of the visual identity, inviting users to step inside and discover their unique stories and objects. A mix of sans serif and serif typography reflected the brand’s knowledge, passion, openness, and trustworthiness. The art direction of photography conveyed Catawiki’s mission and proposition, emphasizing openness, reliability, expertise, and passion. The brand campaign showcased each object in its 3D story, taking viewers into the object’s history and showing what other unique objects were available to discover on the platform.
A flexible design system
We’ve introduced a flexible design system, working with color-specific object categories, translated seamlessly from print to digital. The window is the most iconic part of our visual identity and invites you to step inside, discover and find the story and objects that reflects you. We also use a distinctive mix between sans serif and serif typography to reflect knowledge and passion, combined with openness and trustworthiness.
Creative
The brand campaign showcased each unique object in its 3D story, taking the viewer into the object’s history and highlighting the platform’s other unique objects. The flexible design system used color-specific object categories, and the window was the most iconic part of the visual identity, inviting users to discover their unique stories and objects. The mix of sans serif and serif typography reflected the brand’s knowledge, passion, openness, and trustworthiness. The photography emphasized Catawiki’s mission and proposition, conveying the brand’s openness, reliability, expertise, and passion.
Photography of experts and objects
The art direction of photography is true to Catawiki’s mission and proposition. It conveys the openness, reliability, expertise, and passion that drives the brand.
TVC Brand campaign
In the campaign, each object comes to life in its own 3D story and takes you into the object’s history. The campaign video starts and ends in the platform to show the viewer what other unique objects there are to discover. We created this campaign for 3 markets: France, Italy and Netherlands.
Watch on YouTube
Outcome
& Impact
The redesign of the Catawiki digital touchpoints and the development of a digital-first identity, along with the brand campaign, resulted in a user-friendly and inspiring environment that showcased the unique stories and objects available on the platform. The brand campaign was successful in three markets: France, Italy, and the Netherlands, and Catawiki continued to grow as a worldwide marketplace for special objects. By putting the Catawiki experts front and center, the brand reinforced its position as a trusted marketplace for unique and rare objects. Overall, Catawiki’s objective of creating a brand campaign that reflected the platform’s unique stories and objects was successfully achieved through the implementation of a digital-first identity, a flexible design system, and a compelling brand campaign.
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
Watch on YouTube
BRAND DESIGN MANAGER: Davide Mancini
VISUAL DESIGN LEAD: Daniel Fernández Garijo
HEAD OF UX & DESIGN: Sander van der Putten
AGENCY: Dentsu Achtung!
Catawiki – Amsterdam